Taranaki District Health Board Health Targets 2015-2016 - Third Quarter (January - March)

24 May 2016

The third quarter health targets of 2015-2016 have been released by the Ministry of Health. 
Ministry of Health - Health Targets website

The results for Quarter Three of 2015/16 have been released by the Ministry of Health.

Taranaki DHB has performed well in the majority of national health targets in quarter three. Taranaki DHB General Manager - Planning, Funding & Population Health, Becky Jenkins said, “A focus on the six key areas is important in order to continue to improve health, reduce inequalities and improve the quality of health services for local people. There have been some exciting improvements here at Taranaki DHB. “

“It is heartening to see consistency in the performance for example More Heart and Diabetes Checks targets was met for the third consecutive quarter and improved access to selective surgery was met again. It is also positive to see the increase in the percent of Taranaki eight-month-olds were fully immunised,” added Mrs Jenkins.

With results ahead of the national average, Taranaki DHB is leading the country in the Faster Cancer Treatment target at 84% and has exceeded the target of 90 percent for More Heart and Diabetes Checks. Taranaki DHB has also again exceeded the Improved Access to Elective Surgery target, currently ranking fourth in the country for this target.

The health target results for Taranaki DHB are:

1. Shorter stays in Emergency Departments: Target 95%, Achieved 94%

94 percent of patients seen in Taranaki Emergency Departments were admitted, discharged, or transferred from the department within six hours.

This result can be attributed to Taranaki DHB and Midland Health Network, the network of 99 percent of General Practitioners (GPs) in Taranaki, working closely together to ensure patients receive the right care, at the right place. That is, the Emergency Department being the place to go for all emergencies, and their GP for other non-urgent medical needs.

Over 313 more people presented to an ED this quarter compared with quarter two and there were 757 more ED presentations this quarter compared with the same time last year. Just nine out of the 20 New Zealand DHBs met the 95% target this quarter.

2. Improved Access to Elective Surgery: Target 100%, Achieved 114%

Taranaki DHB continues to exceed the Improved Access to Elective Surgery target, with a 1 percent increase from quarter two 2015/2016 results. Taranaki DHB has delivered this across a wide range of surgical specialities. Assisting in this result has been an ongoing focus on ensuring patients are well prepared for surgery and a continued reduction in day-of surgery-cancellations.

The Improved access to elective surgery target has been achieved with 146,018 elective surgical discharges provided against a year-to-date target of 138,026. This is 7,992 (5.8 percent) more discharges than planned.

3. Faster Cancer Treatment: Target 85%, Achieved 84%

At 84 percent, performance in the Faster Cancer Treatment target has increased by 10 percent compared with quarter two. This is also 9 percent ahead of the national average of 75 percent. Data includes patients who received their first cancer treatment between 1 October 2015 and 31 March 2016. No DHBs have yet met the 85 percent target.

The Ministry is continuing to monitor DHB performance against the previous cancer health target, Shorter waits for cancer treatment. During quarter three 2015/16 no patients ready for treatment waited longer than four weeks for radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

4. Increased Immunisation: Target 95%, Achieved 94%

94 percent of Taranaki eight-month-olds were fully immunised, a three percent increase on the result achieved in both quarters one and two.

Nationally, the Increased Immunisation health target was 93.5 percent, a 0.2 percent decrease when compared with quarter two. This decrease in coverage is consistent with dips observed in quarter three in previous years and coverage was 0.6 percent higher than the same time last year. Four DHBs met the 95 percent target.

Taranaki DHB continues to work closely with  primary care organisations, hospital  services, outreach immunisation services, the National Immunisation Register and Well Child Providers on strategies to help improve our immunisation uptake, including early enrolment of new-borns with a GP.

5. Better Help for Smokers to Quit (Primary Healthcare Target): Target 90%, Achieved 86%

With a result of 86 percent, Taranaki DHB has made a one percent increase from both quarters one and two 2015/2016. Nationally, approximately 479,500 PHO enrolled smokers were offered brief  advice and/or support to quit smoking within the last 15 months.

Taranaki DHB is committed to working collaboratively with our Primary Healthcare Organisation to continue to strengthen and implement a range of good practices to ensure all patients who smoke are offered or given effective stop smoking support.

6. More Heart and Diabetes Checks: Target 90%, Achieved 92%

For the fourth consecutive quarter in a row, Taranaki DHB has surpassed the 90% target, with 92 percent of the eligible population in Taranaki having heart and diabetes checks. This is two percent higher than the national average for quarter three.

National results show there were approximately 59,250 more checks provided in the five years to the end of March 2016 compared with the five years to the end of March 2015. Quarter four will be the final quarter the More Heart and Diabetes Checks results will be reported as a health target.

For more information please call:

Cressida Gates-Thompson
Media and Communications Manager
027 703 6177

Last updated: Tuesday, May 24, 2016